The Art of Detail
by LegionInfinity
Summary: Evil hides everywhere. In palatial homes in New Ninjago City, in the darkest corners of your mind, in the prettiest faces, people you trust. When one new event threatens to ruin all relations, will the ninja be able to notice the evil that hides in plain sight?


**Someone contacted me, wanting me to place Pixal in my stories somehow, so I came up with this. It was supposed to be a short, little, two chapter story, but unfortunately, I'm a stickler for detail. It's already 15 pages long on my laptop. **

**I will be splitting it up, posting as I post my other story. Hope you enjoy it!**

**Zane's POV**

I opened my eyes to the sound of my alarm, blaring from the small table I kept beside my bed. I turned towards the outside of the bed, pulling my arm out from under my body, reaching out to click the small gray button on the top, ceasing the annoying sound. I sighed as I glanced down at the red, analog numbers, which read four o'clock in the morning. I let out a thin breath through my nose as I turned back towards the inside of my bed. Her eyes were still closed, though I could tell by the winkles along her eyelids that they were closed forcefully. I reached out and laid my hand against her shoulder, her warm skin against my cool hand. She opened her eyes, brown hair strewn all across her pillow. "Hey." I whispered quietly. "It is time to get ready." She scoffed and rolled over. I shook my head as well as I could pressed against the pillow. I hoisted myself out of the bed and walked around, squatting down towards her face.

"I'm not going." I smiled.

"You say that every morning, yet, you go." She pulled the blanket up higher, so that I could only see her eyes and forehead. I stared at her, she stared back, but she was stubborn, so I eventually gave up. Pulling myself back onto my feet, I headed towards the bathroom to take my shower. I turned on the water and stepped in, feeling the cold water run down my back as it got warmer. I looked around the shower, my eyes scanning the various soaps and shampoos, settling on a simple bar as I began to massage it through my hands to work up a lather. I heard the bathroom door opened and I smiled to myself. "So, you decided to get up?" I heard the sound of different items being picked up and placed back down.

"Yeah. Yeah. Don't sound so smug, Zane." I heard some more things being changed around.

"Do you need a shower?"

"Nah. I took one last night." I picked up some shampoo and squeezed some on my hand. I rubbed my hands together, then through my hair. "Do you think I should do something with my hair today?" I thought about her hair, which had fallen to her higher back until recently, when she cut it, so it hung to her shoulders.

"There is not much you can do with it now." I finished rinsing my hair and shut off the water.

"Not you too. I already have to take that from the others." I laughed gently.

"Will you hand me a towel?" I heard the sound of feet against the tile floor and a towel came over the bar which held up the shower curtain. I quickly rubbed it through my hair and then wrapped it around my waist, pulling back the shower curtain. Aryan was standing at the bathroom counter, brushing on some concealer to hide the multitude of scars on her face and neck. She glanced at me in the mirror, but she didn't look back. She was already dressed, wearing a tight gray sweater and a pair khaki pants. I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, pressing my lips against the skin near her ear. She scoffed and pushed against my chest with the back of her hand, very half-heartedly.

"You're getting me wet." I smiled.

"If Jay were here, he would make a very inappropriate joke." She gasped and seriously pushed me, a laugh creeping into her tone.

"Piss off!" I started towards the door, opening it as she threw a damp towel that had been on the floor at me. "And get dressed!" As the door closed, I heard her mumble under her breath. "And he says I'm reluctant to get ready."

* * *

I was making the bed when I heard a laugh behind me. I turned around to see Aryan, her hand pressed tightly against her mouth. I looked at her, one of our pillows in my hand. I raised it up along with my other hand. "What?" I was very confused. She collapsed on the footrest of our couch, still laughing. I walked towards her, throwing the pillow on the bed. She raised her hand, the laugh still in her eyes.

"That is the ugliest sweater I've ever seen." I looked down at my chosen outfit, one of the articles included a light blue sweater vest with snowflakes.

"What is wrong with it?" She held up her hands in a defensive position.

"Nothing! Its just…" She shook her head. "Different." She smiled tightly, gesturing toward my neck. "Your bowtie is adorable, though." I bent down and took her hands out of her lap, pulling her upwards towards me.

"Really?" She smiled as I pulled her closer towards me and pressed my lips against hers, moving my mouth as she moved hers. It was nice, until Aryan started to laugh. I pulled far enough away from her that I could talk. "What is wrong now?" She made a face, one that said she was thinking, but also happy.

"It's just that…three years ago…" She looked away from me, but quickly turned back. "I would have thought this was disgusting." She shook her head, smiling. "I _still_ think this is disgusting, but nice." She placed her hand against my cheek. "I wouldn't give this up for the world." I pulled her towards me again, grateful that she had stopped talking so I could kiss her again.

"Hey, we have kids to teach, so can you guys finish up?" We pulled apart and glanced toward our apartment door, where Jay and Cole were standing. I looked at her.

"Did you lock the door?" She shrugged.

"What's the need? No one is dumb enough to try to get in here." My eyes flitted over towards the figures in the door. She dropped downwards a bit, a kind of beg. "They don't count." Her eyes looked both of them up and down. "What the hell is the deal with ugly sweaters today?" Both Jay and Cole looked down at themselves. Jay was wearing a collared shirt with a blue sweater that had a zig-zagged line along the chest, Cole was wearing a brown sweater, collared shirt, and a maroon tie. Aryan shrugged towards her brother. "Yours isn't bad." Cole shrugged, but Jay was still looking down at his shirt. I began to walk towards the door and Aryan followed. Cole began to usher us out into the hall, just as Jay grabbed Aryan's arm. She turned to him.

"Can we talk?" She looked at him, then back at me.

"You go ahead. Kai's probably dying alone with the kids, anyway." I smiled at her, but her smile was gone. All her attention on Jay as they walked into our apartment, shutting the door behind them. I stared at the door for a moment, feeling my eyes narrow in confusion.

"Jay and Nya…" I turned back towards Cole, his lips twisted together. "Well…I just think he wishes he could have what Aryan and you have."

**Aryan's POV**

When I walked into my classroom, the sounds of gossip and papers flying through the air stopped. I smiled. I never had to worry about my class misbehaving, because unlike the others, I wasn't scared to get my hands a little dirty. These kids were here to train, to learn the art of ancient times. True, I had to cut them some slack, this time in my life had been filled with hungry nights and never ending days. They had it so much better than me. Nya always complains about her boys never listening, and that had been a problem for me too, until they found out I could read minds. They were done after that, though every now and again, one dirty comment does slip out.

Class-wise, I taught the Psychology of the Field, a class which dealt with the science of how to read your opponent, as well as your team. I began to write on my chalkboard. "As you all know, today is exam day." I heard a few groans, but I choice to ignore them, placing down my chalk and turning around to face the class. "As you all also know, I hate tests. So I didn't make one." One of my best students, a girl named Martha, raised her hand. I pointed at her.

"But, Miss. Aryan? What about all the studying we all stayed up to do." I smiled.

"You will still have a test, but it will be one of my tests." I clapped my hands together, pulling two of my hats out from under the desk. "We're going to play a sort of charades." Excited whispers all around. I raised the purple hat above my head. "In this hat, are the names of every single member in this class." I then raised the white hat above my head, lowering the other. "In this hat, are common psychological roles. You will each pick one out of each hat, then you will go up, in alphabetical order, and act out your role. The person who chooses your name will have to guess your role." One by one, my students lined up and picked their papers out of each hat, then all went back to their seats, reading their papers. "You have thirty minutes to prepare. Starting now."

No sooner had I opened my mouth to announce the first person that I was cut off by a girl running into my room, out of breath. "Miss. Aryan! Miss. Aryan! Mr. Zane is on the fritz!" I felt my eyes go wide, turning to my class.

"Class dismissed! Exam is first thing next class. Homework is to practice your roles!" I heard the roar of voices start again as I ran after the girl, whose name was Sadie. We rushed down the hall and into the next open room.

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

There was Zane, on the table, shorting out and doing these weird moves all over the place. All of his students were laughing. I heard a girl and a boy in the front, siblings, Bianca and Brody, call out to the other students. "I bought a remote from New Ninjago City and Mr. Zane is going crazy!" I took this chance through all the commotion to make my presence known.

"Hey!" All in the room turned to me, some brown, some blue, very few green. Every student voice stopped mid-sentence, the only noise the electrical noises and Zane's cries for help. I walked in and snatched the remote out of Bianca's hand. Both her and her brother slinked back as I began to push buttons, attempting to get whatever was happening to Zane to cease. I felt my nails dig into the rubber buttons as I pushed them down.

"What's going on in here!" I turned around, handing the remote to Cole as he cut through the sea of children, now larger with the edition of the other classes. He began to press and shake the remote. "How do you work this thing?" In one last desperate attempt to stop it, he began to bang it against the desk. I felt my breath release slowly as Zane's convulsing stopped, and he slid down the desk, obviously exhausted. All the kids let out groans.

"Mr. Cole is the worst!" Cole whipped around.

"I heard that!" Just then, the bell rang for recess, and all of the kids ran out, screaming with glee. Kai, who had been standing in the door, sat down against the wooden desk.

"Recess. My favorite time of day." Cole sat down beside them, with Jay still standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, arms crossed. I looked to each face, they all looked beat. And it was only the mid-day break. My family. My team.

We had been through Hell and back. Torture. Loss. Betrayal. You name it, we've seen it. Ten-fold. With one last look at each of their worn faces, I crossed my arms across my chest, feeling the aggression in each of my steps. "I hate this." I could feel their eyes on my back as I stomped out, brushing my way past Jay.

I was done. I had to get out of here.

**Jay's POV**

"Hey! Who ate my pudding?" I turned around to face the rest of the break room. Cole scraped the bottom of his empty plastic cup with his spoon. He put it in his mouth and ran it through his lips. I crossed my arms, shutting the refrigerator, feeling the part of my body that had been towards the fridge immediately warm up. "My name was clearly on it." Cole put on his signature cocky grin.

"Funny. I didn't see Loudmouth on it." I scoffed, feeling my body slump.

"Come on, Cole! I had been looking forward to that all day." Zane, who had been leaning against the window, raised his hand slightly in a sort of salute.

"I believe Aryan's is in her lunch bag. She would probably be grateful for you to have it." I reopened the fridge and unzipped the striped bag, pulling out the chocolate pudding cup. I began to peel off the lid as I grabbed a spoon off the counter and popped it into my mouth. I sat down hard on the cushion next to Zane, who barely acknowledged my intrusion. I dipped the spoon into the light food and popped it into my mouth.

"Why the hell does Aryan pack pudding if she doesn't even eat it?" Kai looked up from his plain kitchen chair, sitting backwards and leaning against the back.

"I think she packs them for us more than her." He glanced towards the floor for a second, before throwing down his cup and spoon with disgust. "Who the hell are we kidding? Aryan's right! We're heroes! Not some pin-up school teachers, stuck with some damn desk job!" Zane, Cole and I didn't even acknowledge his outburst. We had heard it dozens of times.

"She tried to fool me this morning. Acting like she was sleeping." I glanced over at Zane, seeing the worry in his eyes. "She has been acting like something is wrong. Changing her hair, wearing makeup to cover her scars. Little things she normally did not care about." He leaned forwards, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. "At first I thought a kid had said something to her, but I asked." He straightened his back. "She has not slept in days." Cole pushed himself up, walking over to the cabinet and opening it. I caught a glimpse of tens of orange tubes lined up on the shelves. I knew what they all said by heart. Prescriptions for depression, post -traumatic stress disorder, pain killers, headache relievers. Every type of medication available. We didn't even use half of them, but Aryan insisted. Truthfully, I think she was scared. Scared of us. Scared of herself.

Cole pulled down one of the bottles, the one I knew was prescribed to Aryan. We had all pulled down that tube at one point or another. Sleeping pills. Powerful sleeping pills. Cole began to read the label, glancing over at Zane. He held his arm up at an angle. "How many should I grind up?" She refused to take them on her own, so we had to get her to take them somehow. She used to be fine with the pills, but after the final battle…something happened. Something that she won't tell. Won't mention. Zane opened his mouth to talk as Nya burst through the door, the hem of her dress getting caught in the hinges. She gently pulled it out as an inaudible chorus of voices came out from behind the door. She rolled her eyes as she walked forward.

"Why do I feel like when I teach, none of the boys are listening to me?" Kai shrugged gently.

"All you have to do is deal with it like Aryan." She looked appalled and placed her hand against her collar bone, spreading her fingers wide.

"No! That would be mean." She glanced over my way, I raised my hand slightly in a friendly gesture.

"Hey, Nya." I pushed myself up and walked over to her, only to have her put her hand in my face.

"Personal space, Jay!" I took a small step back, glancing down at the floor.

"Right." I said quietly. In the months after we had built this school up, she had become more distant. It was like she didn't care anymore, but Aryan was her best friend. She promised to talk to her, until then, I would hold my tongue when around her. She looked back at all of us.

"Anyway guys, I have news!" After about half a year of doing absolutely nothing, that definitely sparked our interest. And excitement. We each called out our guesses, which got more and more outrageous with each of us. It was about the time when Cole yelled out his guess that I think the truth hit us. It wasn't just Aryan. It wasn't just Kai. It was all of us. We all missed it. And for about a fraction of a second, we allowed that to sink in, not showing on our faces. No showing in our hearts. Nya cut through our thoughts, bringing us back to the reality that we wished to escape. "No, sillies!" I heard the chorus of groans escape from our lips as Nya swerved her head around the room, frown replacing her smile. "Where's Aryan?" She looked around to each of our faces, narrowly avoiding my gaze. She lowered hers slightly. "Oh." She kept her gaze there for a moment, only to raise it quickly, putting on a false sense of cheeriness.

"We're going on a field trip after lunch…..to Borg Industries!" I felt my excitement spike, but I tried hard not to show it too much.

"Wow! Do we get to meet Cyrus Borg? He's my hero!" Nya turned to me, making the face I knew so well. Disgust. I remembered my conversation with Aryan this morning, what she had said when I told her about what I called "The Look."

_Believe me, Jay. If I could erase one part of the human experience, the parts of life we were already born knowing, it would be our ability to use body language…because sometimes one look will cut deeper than any word. And words were already more powerful than a knife._

I closed my eyes quietly, but not before I saw Nya look away, towards the open window. Maybe…Who was I kidding? She didn't give a shit. I tried to give her everything, but she still didn't care. I wasn't good enough for her.

I thought I was.

I opened my eyes just in time to see Nya make a circle in the air with her finger. "Round 'em up, guys! I'll go prep the buses." Nya walked towards the door, arm outstretched, but her eyes were still facing us, but she was rudely interrupted by the door swinging open. Aryan walked in, pulling down on her sweater. She nodded to Nya as she passed by her on her way out the door. She turned to face us, her brown eyes shining.

"Hey, guys! What did Nya say?" I was slightly taken aback by her chipper tone, but I don't think the others noticed. Cole put his hands on his hips.

"And where the HELL have you been?" Aryan shrugged, both of her shoulders rising, then falling. We quickly filled her in, ushering her out the door as the bell rang. As we were pushing her towards the door, I noticed that one of Kai's hands, which had been pushing against her shoulder, slipped and hit against her upper right side. She flinched away from him, as though he had burned her. Kai stopped, making a face as if he was pondering something. After about a minute, he continued after us, though we were already in the hall.

Whatever, I had my own problems to worry about.

**Kai's POV**

The bus was old. Really old. Hell, the only noise I could hear over the deafening roar of the engine was the chatter of the students behind us. I glanced around, feeling my hands tighten on the plastic seat in front of me. I had to constantly move them to avoid them from leaning back and crushing them, but it was a force of habit, as was listening to their conversation.

They weren't talking about anything new, weather, sports, etc. I leaned back against my chair, rubbing my right palm down my face. Blinking twice as my eyes went out of focus, then back again, I tried to distract myself with making an escape plan if something were to happen. No doubt Cole already had one, but mine was more fun, probably because it was more dangerous and heroic.

Cole in the front seat to the left, Zane and Aryan in the front seat to the right, me behind Zane and Aryan, Jay behind Cole, and Nya was back with the students, probably braiding hair or something. After about four minutes of reciting this over and over in my head, I gave up. Nothing was going to happen. The bus wasn't going to get tipped over by some freak storm or explode. Nothing exciting ever happened to us anymore.

I turned my attention back to Zane and Aryan as Zane made a gesture with his thumb towards Cole. Aryan nodded as Zane cut across the aisle and sat down next to Cole. I watched them talk for a few seconds before deciding I was clear. Grabbing hold of her plastic seat backing again, I swung myself around the backing, making the seat raise towards Aryan's end with a creek, then settle back down. I firmly planted my hands on the metal bar in front of us, leaning towards her. "So, what'd you do this time?" Aryan shifted her body, so her front was facing slightly towards me.

"And what makes you assume I did anything?" I rolled my eyes, trying to avoid snapping.

"I'm the only one here, Aryan. We don't need to play this game." She held my stare for a moment, then let out a breath through her teeth. Shifting so she was once again facing the front of the bus, she checked to make sure my body, which was facing hers, completely blocked Zane, Jay, and Cole's view. Very gently and tenuously, she pulled up the right side of her sweater. I noticed nothing wrong until she reached the area where her rib cage was located. It was crudely wrapped in gauze, obviously done by herself. The whole right side was red, damp in the twilight sun. Once I had gotten a good look, she quickly pulled her sweater down and smoothed out the wrinkles. I didn't even try to hide my look of impression and approval. "How close did he get?" Aryan shrugged.

"Not very. I moved in time, so it only clipped me, took a few layers of skin with it, though." We heard whispers behind us and we glanced out the window to the rising city in front us. "Its nothing like it used to be, Kai. The city. I'm honestly surprised that the gun didn't turn me to ash and only fired normal bullets." I felt my eyes dart away from the window and down towards the back of her head.

"You were in the city?" I heard the accusing panic in my voice, also the jealously. Once again, Aryan knew something that I didn't.

"You've know me for long enough to know I don't just disappear into the country-side." I bit my tongue at that comment. She was right, as usual.

* * *

All I remember about my first trek into the city was my awe. It was huge! And all glowy! Everything it up, the cars flew, there were androids along the road, directing traffic. I thought Jay was going to pass out he look so excited. Every face was pressed up against the window. Every face, except for one. Instead, she grimaced at the mere sight of it all, but there was something about the look in her eyes, a mix of fear and uncertainty, that made me wonder.

Does Aryan know something about this city that we don't. Can she see something that we can't see? Something we're not supposed to?

Instead of feeling awed, I began to look around, trying to find what was making her so irritable. But then our trip hit a bump, in the form of a truck. Everyone in the bus flew forward, the children cried. As for me, I hit my head against the bar with a loud metallic clang. I rubbed my head as Cole used the metal column next to the driver's seat to throw himself at the door, opening it with one large push. He leaned out the door as the driver yelled obscenities at us. Nya began to talk to the kids, to distract them from what he was saying, but Jay, Zane, and I ran out after Cole, who had preceded to lift up the truck, placing it back on the track in which it had to run. The driver leaned out the window. "Who the hell uses wheels anymore." I stepped forward, pushing Cole out of the way.

"Geez! We were just trying to help!"

"Halt, pedestrians." All four of us turned, facing the large, black robot. It was painted black, blue and white, an obvious stand-in for a cop. Cole raised his hands, a sarcastic symbol of defeat.

"What the hell? Pedestrians? I just lifted a truck with my bare hands!" The robot extended an arm towards us.

"Step away from the vehicle. If you refuse to conform, I will be forced to take you into custody." The robots flat, programmed voice showed no sign of authority, which is probably why I felt a swell of cockiness in my chest, the same as the others. All four of us took a forward step, in synch. Cole smiled slyly.

"Make us, bag of bolts." Zane made a noise in his throat. Cole glanced backwards. "Sorry." The robot took a step forward, and there was a small metallic click as the robot's hand shifted into the shape of a gun, which was pointed directly at us.

"Raise your hands above your head and step away from ancient transportation device." I literally felt the rush of testosterone we all felt die as we all slowly raised our hands above our head. "Please. Take a step forward. Slowly." Just as we were about to take the step, something connected with the red sensor in the front of the robot's head, which was obviously playing as its eye. There was the sound of electric currents snapping, then the robot fell down backwards, decommissioned. We all slowly lowered her hands, turned towards the open door of the bus. She was leaning out of the doorway, holding on the frame to keep herself balanced. Her hand was still glowing with energy.

"You know what this is?" She took her shocked faces as a response. "This is a circuit. Every damn thing in this city runs on it. They only know what they're programmed to do and have no knowledge of social interactions. No will." She trailed off for a moment, but her voice stayed strong. "And it pisses me off!" She leaned back towards the inside of the bus. "Now get back on!" We slowly made our way over and stepped inside, having to pivot around Aryan, who was standing in the middle of the aisle. We sat down as she spread her arms towards the windows on either side. "Quick mini-lesson kids! What you saw out there, that is why none of us teach Methods of the Field." Sensei Wu, who had been sitting in the back, smiled as she sat back down next to Zane.

* * *

When we first walked into the massive tower, the only sound I could hear was the kids, their excitement radiating off the walls. I followed up the group, while the others led. I looked around, taking in the tech, the wires, the computers. It was amazing. It was terrifying. I should have been paying attention, because I was so far behind the group, the door shut on my leg. I couldn't pull it out, so I was forced to watch what was happening from a ways. A figure approached the group, a girl. She was unearthly pale, as a matter of fact, the correct color I should use would be white. She was wearing an old fashioned kimono, purple. Nicely accented her skin, but that wasn't the weirdest part about her. She was obviously an android like Zane, but different. The joints in her arms overlapped instead of fell together, and she had underlying wiring, dark blue, that ran right under the surface of her skin. The design pattern, it looked kind of familiar, but that wasn't what I was paying attention to.

The android introduced herself as Pixal, making extra emphasize on the –a. And she started flat out flirting with Zane, asking him what his name stood for. And to make it worse, partly because I wasn't up there to slap my hand over his mouth, he flirted back. In front of probably the two most dangerous women in Ninjago, one was his girlfriend, and one was her best friend. That did not add up nicely in my head.

Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn.

Finally, I managed to wrench my ankle out from the sliding door, running, or falling, up to the rest of the group. Though my gut was telling me to run up and shut him up before he said something stupid, something made me stop. Pixal's voice was directed towards Zane, but her eyes, glowing green, no pupils, kept flitting towards Aryan. Her attention was on Zane, her interest…was on Aryan. After what seemed like the coldest storm in the history of storms, Pixal finally gestured to her left. "Shall we begin the tour?" Her voice was hollow, all one pitch. She then pointed towards the elevator. "My creator would like to see the ninja upstairs." Her eyes flitted over to Aryan, who then got a surprised look and jammed her index finger into her own collar bone.

"Oh, me too?" Pixal simply gestured again towards the cube that held the elevator, then guided the kids the other direction. Jay and Cole shrugged, heading around the cube to go into the elevator. Aryan was still staring angrily at the spot where Pixal disappeared, and I grabbed her arm along the way, pulling her along. Zane was also staring at the spot where Pixal disappeared, much more lustily than Aryan had been. She wrenched her arm out of her grasp, and I quickly made my way into the elevator, only to see Aryan remove her shoe, a metallic colored flat, and throw it with amazing force. She hit Zane dead on in the side of his head and his attention snapped back to her.

"What was that?" Aryan stared for a minute, the anger clear in her face. She scoffed, crossing her arms across her chest, stalking off towards the elevator. When she got in, none of us said anything, simply avoided her gaze. Zane arrived a minute later, rubbing the mark on his cheek. Aryan glanced at him.

"Go get my shoe." Her voice came through her teeth, quick and slurred together. Zane quickly ran out through the door and grabbed her shoe back on the floor, sliding through the elevator right before the door closed. None of us said anything, and I found myself looking out to the lowering city, wondering what the famous Cyrus Borg had in store for us.

* * *

_Scanning…scanning…_

_Match found._

_Black ninja._

_Blue ninja._

_White ninja. _

_Red ninja._

_Silver ninja._

_Continuing scan…_

_Match found._

_Earth._

_Lightning._

_Ice._

_Fire._

_Energy. Classification unknown._

_Scanning… scanning…_

_Match found._

_Energy. Classification: Dark._


End file.
